The 2023-24 NBA season has been a disaster for the Detroit Pistons. Nothing has gone their way, as this year’s team will be remembered for a long time because of the ugly history they made earlier in the campaign.
The Pistons, who started the season 2-1, went on to lose their next 28 games in a row, setting an NBA record for most consecutive losses. That is not the kind of history you want to be a part of, but it wasn’t the only history the team has been on the wrong side of.
On Monday night against the New York Knicks, the Pistons went into Madison Square Garden extremely short-handed. They were without eight rotation players, including four starters, putting them behind the eight-ball from the opening tip.
The Knicks jumped out to an early lead, buoyed by a 20-0 run in the first quarter. One of the players in the middle of that hot streak was Donte DiVincenzo, who made history when it was all said and done.
DiVincenzo broke the Knicks’ franchise record for 3-pointers in a game, knocking down 11. One of the players who was tied with the previous record of 10 was Evan Fournier, who plays for the Pistons and was defending DiVincenzo on his record-breaking shot.
While fans erupted at DiVincenzo’s performance, one person was left ticked out. Pistons head coach Monty Williams was not thrilled about the record being broken and he let people know about his feelings during his post-game press conference.
“I don’t care about their team. I couldn’t care less. Those guys, the way they got those 3s. I don’t want to be a part of that story,” Williams said, via Stefan Bondy of the New York Post.
Williams’ pressers following games against the Knicks this season have been headline-grabbing and this one certainly was, too. It is easy to glean from those comments that he was not happy to see New York players chasing records in a blowout victory.
But, to be fair, in today’s NBA, no lead is safe. We have seen 20+ point leads evaporate in minutes. Also, DiVincenzo had broken the record earlier in the game, but a video review during a timeout showed that he had stepped out of bounds, leading to him having to attempt a few more shots to get it.
At the end of the day, these are all professionals in the NBA. If Williams doesn’t like what the Knicks are doing, come up with a plan to stop them from having that level of success. That is the least the Pistons could expect from the person they made the highest-paid head coach in the NBA over the offseason when they agreed to a six-year, $78.5 million deal.
More must-reads: